WEBVTT - Monologue: The Super Bowl Showed That Generative AI Is Washed

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<v Speaker 1>A zone media hell, and welcome to this week's better

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<v Speaker 1>offline monologue. I'm your host ed Zetron. What last Sunday

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<v Speaker 1>was the Super Bowl, the final game of the NFL season,

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<v Speaker 1>And for those of you who don't like sport or

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<v Speaker 1>live in another country or something, it's an event that

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<v Speaker 1>many people just watch for the many, many ads that

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<v Speaker 1>they cut into during the game. The Super Bowl ad

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<v Speaker 1>can cost as much as eight million dollars for a

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<v Speaker 1>thirty second commercial, depending on where it air is during

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<v Speaker 1>the game, the most coveted slots being just before the

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<v Speaker 1>halftime show, and the ads themselves tend to be the spectacular,

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<v Speaker 1>highly produced fare. They're very weird, but they put a

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<v Speaker 1>ton of money into them. This year, I was specifically

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<v Speaker 1>excited to see what bullshit slot the various AI companies

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<v Speaker 1>would try and force down my nasty little throat. Last year,

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<v Speaker 1>anthropicaird a five second long commercial that said, and I

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<v Speaker 1>quote Claude is a next generation AI system, a sentence that,

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<v Speaker 1>when you think about it, means precisely nothing. And Microsoft

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<v Speaker 1>famously aired a co pilot AI commercial where several of

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<v Speaker 1>the prompts, such as write code for my three D

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<v Speaker 1>open World game simply didn't do what they said they did.

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<v Speaker 1>In the case of the Open World game by the way,

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<v Speaker 1>from last year, it generated a step by step guide

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<v Speaker 1>to building one, which isn't the same thing at all.

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<v Speaker 1>It's kind of like ordering dinner and Uber EAT's bringing

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<v Speaker 1>your recipe for a burrito instead of an actual burrito,

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<v Speaker 1>but still charging you all the same. Nevertheless, this year's

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<v Speaker 1>slot was even more obscene, starting with an ad for

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<v Speaker 1>Google's Pixel nine phone where a guy has asked questions

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<v Speaker 1>as if he's taking a job interview by Google's generative

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<v Speaker 1>AI Gemini Live. As he answers them, it's obvious that

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<v Speaker 1>what he's describing is actually being a father. They also

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<v Speaker 1>show you an overlay of like him taking his kid

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<v Speaker 1>to score. It's got emotional music playing with him taking

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<v Speaker 1>her to school, and at one point e Google's explain

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<v Speaker 1>bling to a child, which I should be clear is

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<v Speaker 1>not a Gemini product, it's just Google Search. It's unclear

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<v Speaker 1>what this ad is actually advertising. We don't hear the

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<v Speaker 1>prompt that's started these questions, nor do we know why

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<v Speaker 1>he's answering them, but when he's done, he's clearly joining

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<v Speaker 1>some sort of job interview. Virtually Gemini doesn't really respond

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<v Speaker 1>to any of his answers other than to say things like,

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<v Speaker 1>try rephrasing your answer to sound more confident, so we

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<v Speaker 1>can assume. And that's all we're doing here that he's

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<v Speaker 1>preparing for a job interview. He's also pretty old, like

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<v Speaker 1>his kid has gone off the college. She's a full

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<v Speaker 1>grown adult. Now. Very weird, very weird commercial, very clearly

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<v Speaker 1>built for people who cry whenever they remember their parents. Sorry,

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<v Speaker 1>if that's you you are, do not use Gemini Life.

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<v Speaker 1>That's my recommendation. Next up was open a Eyes gratuitously

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<v Speaker 1>stupid commercial called The Intelligence Age, which showed a dot

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<v Speaker 1>matrix history of time involving men throwing spears, people riding horses,

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<v Speaker 1>waves crashing a waving skeleton for some reason as a plane,

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<v Speaker 1>and eventually a globe with a few dots going toward

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<v Speaker 1>a computer with a modem sound playing. A full forty

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<v Speaker 1>seconds in to this one minute long commercial, we start

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<v Speaker 1>actually hearing prompts. Someone says, summarize this article for me,

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<v Speaker 1>Then someone else says, help me practice asking for a raise.

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<v Speaker 1>And this prompt, by the way, is near impossible to hear,

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<v Speaker 1>as it's cut off to have a guy say act

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<v Speaker 1>as my sleep coach. And then there's two more prompts

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<v Speaker 1>in a language I don't speak, then another that says

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<v Speaker 1>turn my idea into a business plan, before a chirpy

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<v Speaker 1>voice asks what do you want to create next? This

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<v Speaker 1>is really good. I love this. I also love the

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<v Speaker 1>idea of having two prompts in different languages, because people

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<v Speaker 1>speak different languages other than English. I understand that there

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<v Speaker 1>is no official language of America, so it's good. But nevertheless,

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<v Speaker 1>that you only got a few seconds. You didn't think

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<v Speaker 1>to try and get as many prompts in. Maybe it's

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<v Speaker 1>that they didn't have them. In fact, if you're a

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<v Speaker 1>listener and you watch this commercial and you speak those languages,

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<v Speaker 1>please email me. It's easy at better offline dot com.

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<v Speaker 1>I would love to hear what they actually said. Nevertheless,

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<v Speaker 1>asking chat GPT to be your sleep coach leads it

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<v Speaker 1>to ask you about your sleep habits, your lifestyle, common issue,

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<v Speaker 1>sleep quality, and your ideal goals. Asking it to turn

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<v Speaker 1>my idea into a business plan immediately led it to

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<v Speaker 1>asking me what my idea was. Great. I can practice

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<v Speaker 1>with a large language model how to ask for a raise,

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<v Speaker 1>But what does that mean exactly? What does this product,

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<v Speaker 1>do what is chat GPT and assuming that AI ends

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<v Speaker 1>up actually wrecking the labor market as they wanted to,

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<v Speaker 1>the idea of using chat GPT is a soundboard when

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<v Speaker 1>you renegotiate your contract kind of feels like more of

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<v Speaker 1>a cruel joke. It's also not going to do that.

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<v Speaker 1>But anyway, two fucking years into this nonsense and these

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<v Speaker 1>assholes can't even come up with one interesting or useful example.

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<v Speaker 1>It's a fucking joke. These people have such contempt for

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<v Speaker 1>customers that they can barely be bothered to advertise their

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<v Speaker 1>products also goddamn half hearted. Yet the worst one by

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<v Speaker 1>far was Salesforce and their Gait Expectations ad, where Matthew McConaughey,

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<v Speaker 1>an actor, says that he and I quote didn't use

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<v Speaker 1>Agent Force, the powerful AI from Salesforce, so an AI

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<v Speaker 1>agent didn't send him the fastest to his gait or

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<v Speaker 1>root of your British which has now changed. The commercial

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<v Speaker 1>ends by saying that Salesforce helps London Heathrow create a

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<v Speaker 1>first class experience. Everyone in the commercial was also American act. Nevertheless,

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<v Speaker 1>I n actually went and looked up what this integration

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<v Speaker 1>actually looked like and discovered that Heathrow actually integrated Einstein's chatbots,

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<v Speaker 1>Einstein being Salesforce's large language model chatbot thing. They've been

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<v Speaker 1>warming up for that a decade, but this was back

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<v Speaker 1>in May twenty twenty three. They claimed that Einstein answered

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<v Speaker 1>more than four thousand questions a month and helped cut

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<v Speaker 1>call service volumes by twenty seven percent, and that Heathrow

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<v Speaker 1>has seen a four hundred and fifty percent increase in

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<v Speaker 1>live chat usage since launch. Then they proudly added that today,

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<v Speaker 1>and the article is completely undated, Heathrow had seen about

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<v Speaker 1>around forty to sixty second quicker per contact interactions in

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<v Speaker 1>call centers with Einstein chatbots. This is the only data

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<v Speaker 1>that appears to exist for anything to do with Agent

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<v Speaker 1>Force and Heathrow. There's nothing else they could find. I

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<v Speaker 1>will add that a record breaking eighty three point nine

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<v Speaker 1>million passengers flew through Heathrow in twenty twenty four four

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<v Speaker 1>thousand questions a month or forty eight thousand a year.

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<v Speaker 1>It's kind of a drop in the buck in as

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<v Speaker 1>a percentage at zero point zero five seven two percent,

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<v Speaker 1>And like I said, really not finding any information about

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<v Speaker 1>their Agent Force integration. All I could find was a

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<v Speaker 1>LinkedIn post from Sharon Pryor, who is the director of

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<v Speaker 1>Technology at Heathrow, who said that four hundred percent more

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<v Speaker 1>questions were handled via live chat, which is interesting because

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<v Speaker 1>the one from twenty twenty three it seems four hundred

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<v Speaker 1>and fifty percent. I guess that went down. And apparently

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<v Speaker 1>Agent Force says something called instant FAQs and interminal wayfinding

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<v Speaker 1>for your gate plus restaurant shops and facilities. I want

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<v Speaker 1>to be clear that all this bullshit was doable with

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<v Speaker 1>knowledge management systems and chatbots all the way back in

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<v Speaker 1>the mid twenty tens. Salesforce isn't even describing a AI agents,

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<v Speaker 1>which are supposedly autonomous chatbots. They're describing this boring, bob

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<v Speaker 1>standard bullshit. We can help you find your gate, stuff

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<v Speaker 1>that apps have done for a decade. What's more insulting

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<v Speaker 1>is the commercial officscates what this product actually is. Macarache

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<v Speaker 1>as a traveler is saying he didn't use Agent Force,

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<v Speaker 1>which is the powerful AI from Salesforce, as if that

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<v Speaker 1>is something a consumer chooses to do versus a business

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<v Speaker 1>being actively conned by Mark Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce.

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<v Speaker 1>Salesforce has no powerful AI. It's all a lie, a

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<v Speaker 1>con an attempt to pretend that a company does something

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<v Speaker 1>that they do not do. Salesforce has a large language

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<v Speaker 1>bottel they're working on. They've used chat GBT or GBT

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<v Speaker 1>four in the past. Nevertheless, I don't know what the

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<v Speaker 1>powerful AI is. Salesforce, well, their problem is simple. They

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<v Speaker 1>can't do an AD that says, hey, do you want

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<v Speaker 1>a slightly more powerful chatbot that costs a great deal

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<v Speaker 1>of money, So they have to make this kind of

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<v Speaker 1>incongruent AD that lies about their product without ever really

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<v Speaker 1>saying what it does. Open AI, two years into this bubble,

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<v Speaker 1>still can't muster up a single meaningful, interesting use case.

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<v Speaker 1>And in both Google and AI's case, it truly isn't

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<v Speaker 1>obvious what the product is that they're selling. And that

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<v Speaker 1>really is the ultimate summary of the AI boos. Vague

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<v Speaker 1>and blatant lies that barely masked the contempt that these

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<v Speaker 1>companies have for customers, so much content that they can't

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<v Speaker 1>even bother to give them a real reason to use it,

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<v Speaker 1>And if a monest I'm a little bit disappointed about

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<v Speaker 1>these commercials because they lacked even the juice of the

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<v Speaker 1>twenty twenty two Crypto Bacanalia. You see there, we had

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<v Speaker 1>celebrities that called you a pig and a moron. They

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<v Speaker 1>said you were a hog that rolled around in the

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<v Speaker 1>mud and you oinked and squealed instead of putting everything

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<v Speaker 1>you had behind Crypto and people like Tom Brady while

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<v Speaker 1>they delivered, or at least on a superficial level, these

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<v Speaker 1>compelling ish messages that suggested you might really need to

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<v Speaker 1>and successfully convince people to buy these nebulous tokens in NFTs,

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<v Speaker 1>even though many of the companies they promoted turned out

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<v Speaker 1>to be elaborate Ponzi schemes such as FDx. And never

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<v Speaker 1>have I been more certain that this bubble will pop.

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<v Speaker 1>This was the biggest stage that generative AI will ever have,

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<v Speaker 1>and they blew it because well, deep down, they realized

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<v Speaker 1>there's just not that much to sell.